


Fruitful Research

by TempusNoKitsune



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gavin Reed is a good boyfriend, Gavin plays video games, I'm not sorry, If you've had a bad day you should probably read this, Laughter, M/M, RK900's name is Nines, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Updog, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has Feelings, You're Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 03:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempusNoKitsune/pseuds/TempusNoKitsune
Summary: The “research” is a sort of self imposed for-fun activity, and has come across a particular string of “jokes” that have caught his interest.AKA Gavin and Nines have a down day and something out of the ordinary happens...





	Fruitful Research

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cambionarewhereitsat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cambionarewhereitsat/gifts), [Evios](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Evios).



Nines leans slightly to the side, closer into the warmth coming off of the human next to him. It’s a familiar feeling at this point, something that, in all honesty, he’s very content with despite all odds. 

RK900 has been “awake” for a total of 6 months now, almost exactly half a year. He’s been working at the Detroit police department for the majority of that time, partnered with one Detective Gavin Reed. At first it seemed as though his antagonistic relationship with Detective Reed was going to get him transferred, or perhaps have a messy apex. It was, therefore, surprising when said relationship began to soften around the edges. 

In contrast to his predecessor, Nines had not been programmed with extensive interpersonal relation programmes, leaving him cold in comparison to the seemingly kind and easygoing nature of the RK800. He didn’t envy the skill, one can’t really envy something they’ve never experienced, and Nines certainly doesn’t want for more interpersonal skills, preferring to keep his, “don’t mess with me” aura. However, this means that he also didn’t rise to any of Detective Reed’s many attempts at getting a rise out of him. Instead of being kind or completely ignoring any of these attempts, he often shot back with biting and cruel retorts.

Evidently such things were the right way to go about his relationship with the detective, as slowly the back and forth somehow seemed to lose its genuine malice. It doesn't keep the insults and jibes from being thrown between them, but it’s less of a battle now and more of a game. It goes from a dangerously charged intensity to an emotionally charged one. It’s apparently a small jump for the Detective to go at snarling over his existence to slamming him back up against a wall and kissing him.

Of course it doesn’t really need to be said that Detective Reed is not the best example of average, generalized human behavior, rather performing as an abstract anomaly. Therefore, when Gavin both heavily insults him and asks him out in the same sentence he throws back that he’ll accept once Gavin successfully catches him off guard. This starts a sort of game leading to a daily occurrence of something interesting happening between Reed and himself. For him it’s an exercise in the human emotion of amusement, but for the rest of the DPD it’s certainly more of an exercise in not killing Reed. 

When the day came where Nines walked into the Precinct and Reed was there, face burning and holding a single blue rose, dressed rather formally, RK900 had to admit that it wasn’t something that he had been expecting and they had gone on their first date that night. It didn’t take much after that for them to go from the odd date between cases and paperwork, to steadily dating and living together full time. Which leads to the present.

Gavin has been having a down weekend for the first time this month, and Nines had been on and off picking up the second controller for the game system that Gavin has been playing on and completely whipping the man in every game that he plays. Aside from playing games, Nines has been subtly working over files, reading hardcovers and paperbacks, and sifting through a plethora of social media from Gavin’s childhood and young adulthood. The “research” is a sort of self imposed for-fun activity, and has come across a particular string of “jokes” that have caught his interest. 

Nines looks over at Gavin, eyeing him up and down slowly before leaning in just a bit more. Normally, they might press together up and down along each others sides, or one of them might shift more fully into the other, something that either of them would deny as snuggling though it most definitely fell under the definition. This time, however, Nines doesn’t press into Gavin, rather just leaning in within a foot of the other man’s face.

“Ah! That’s bullshit! Look at this, there’s no way that’s fair!” Gavin bursts out, lifting one hand from the controller to gesture vehemently at the TV screen.

Nines hums, cuts eyes over to the screen for a moment, enough to know that nothing is of the ordinary except for Gavin’s currently subpar skills at his new game.

“Could it be that it’s updog?” He responds coolly, blinking patiently when the question seems to completely evade recognition.

“Bah!” Gavin growls in frustration, restarting the level for what must be 5th or 6th time. At first Nines had found Gavin’s clear level of patience with games to be pleasantly surprising as it generally took over 1 to 2 hours for the man to actually start getting frustrated. This new game seems to be particularly trying, and upon a cursory search the game was noted as being a “rage game.”

He looks back at the screen for a moment, watching as a new “boss” comes in from the side screen and easily takes out Gavin’s character despite his valiant attempts to dodge the attacks. His boyfriend lets out another stream of unintelligible and disgruntled noises.

“Is that updog?” He repeats.

Gavin looks over at him for a moment, something that he has a habit of doing to let Nines know that he’s listening to him when his attention is split.

“I- what?” He starts, but quickly gets distracted by the game, only to die again. “Come on!”

“Was that,” Nines begins, tilting his head just slightly, eyes glued to the other man gauging every reaction and micro reaction, “updog?”

“Nines I don’t,” Upon dying once more he pauses the game and sets the controller down in his lap, hard, “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

He gives a small nod and coolly repeats again, “Was that updog?”

“What?” Gavin blinks at him, his mouth is slightly curled up in a small smile, though now it’s tempered with confusion. “What’s updog?”

Nines registers the words, stays still for a second more, then promptly bursts into laughter. It’s pure and unrestrained, and completely uncontrollable. He leans back towards the arm of the sofa, head thrown back unabashadley before it comes too much and he doubles over. His laugh is loud and heavy, bright and echoing through the living room. 

There’s just genuine joy bubbling up through his chest and out through his mouth. There’s a slight undertone of pleased disbelief that his human actually fell for what seems like such a simple little joking trick. If he could choke from his intense laughter like a human, he thinks that he would probably be doing so. 

He can’t stop himself, keeling forward far enough that he ends up on the floor, rolling over onto his back as his laughter pushes him to tears, and he pulls in a deep and unnecessary breath through his nose that ends up as a loud snort. This only fuels his laughing fit, pitching the sound just a bit higher as he unnecessarily grabs at his high abdomen where his thirium pump lies within his chassis. 

He goes through a fit of laughter which sounds a bit more like yelling and breathy whistling, interspersed with the full and heavy rapid laughter. From there his laughter beings to slowly wind down, pushing out in heavy synthetic sighs. His internal clock tells him that he’s been having a fit for almost more than a half hour now. Nines pulls in some more even breaths, aiding his fans in cooling off his overheating systems before rubbing tears away from his eyes and cheeks.

He lets his head loll to the side slightly, enough to get a clear view of Gavin. The man hasn’t moved  _ at all _ , and looks incredibly confused.

Nines is still too far into the bright euphoria of his hilarious success to keep the slightly dopey smile off of his face as he slowly maneuvers himself back onto the couch. He reaches out and runs a hand through Gavin’s copiously mess hair.

“Are you okay?” He asks smoothly as he continues to pull himself together, straightening out his spine and controlling his facial expression.

“What the ever loving phuck was that?” Gavin bursts out. His eyes are still wide in the way that they were with confusion, though now there’s more active emotion behind them.

Nines lifts an eyebrow and leans back slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“You just-I don’t...what was….laugh...you…” Gavin spits out, stammering and moving his hands around as though they might piece the words together for him. His heart rate is slightly elevated, as are his adrenaline levels. His confusion and concern are veritably genuine. It kind of makes him want to laugh again, but if this is the reaction he’s not entirely sure that Gavin could physically survive such an outburst back to back.

“I laughed at your stupidity.”

“What?” Gavin squeaks.

“I know that you understand English, Gavin.”

The man shakes his head violently, shifting the hair that Nines had fixed into an even more messy state. 

“Nines, you don’t laugh.”

“I do.”

“Well, yeah sort of, but like, you chuckle or scoff. You don’t...do  _ that.” _

“Obviously I do.”

“Nines, are you broken? Did I break you?”

Nines blinks at his human, and his LED spins yellow once before be goes to answer. He doesn’t get the chance to say anything before Gavin jumps back in.

“Was I too rough or something? Should we not be messing with your wires too? Was-  _ oh phk _ \- did you actually get hurt when we were chasing that perp yesterday?!” The smaller man jumps to his feet, hand reaching out to grasp solidly at Nine’s upper arm. “That’s it, were going to wherever the phck and I’m calling Connor and we’re gonna get you-”

He uses the grasp on his upper arm to unbalance his boyfriend, and quickly selects an option out of his pre constructions. Gavin’s body slams down into the couch in a sitting position and Nines pins him down with hands on his shoulders and knees on either side of his thighs. He leans back just slightly to look into grey eyes, and lets his mouth tilt up just a bit into something of a condescending smirk- not that Gavin doesn't deserve it.

“I’m perfectly fine Gavin. I just haven’t genuinely laughed before now, that’s all.”

Gavin takes a moment, likely reorienting himself.

“I...you, that’s how you really laugh?”

Nines nods very slowly, and leans in until their lips brush together chastely before leaning back, dropping his weight onto Gavin’s lap and relaxing his hands, letting them drop to Gavin’s chest as it becomes clear that the man’s not going to make a move to get up. Hands come to rest on his waist out of reflex, and his small smirk becomes something softer.

“Sure.”

“That’s…” Gavin takes a couple of breaths and looks right into Nines’s eyes, his face twisted up. “Not what I was expecting.”

“Hmmm?”

“I mean, I guess I thought if you were gonna laugh it would be like a few low ones not like a full blown goofy laugh attack.”

Nines arches an elegant eyebrow and grabs Gavin’s chin.

“Goofy?”

Gavin smiles at him, though it looks a bit more like he’s baring his teeth, especially since the pressure that he’s exerting on the man’s chin is disfiguring his bottom lip slightly.

“Don’t worry, it was cute, baby.” He throws out, sounding a proper level of Gavin-cocky. There’s the trash fire that he knows and loves. 

Nines hums lowly and releases Gavin’s face, conceding when the man leans in for a more proper kiss.

“Don’t get used to it.” He says coolly as they pull away, but as Gavin’s hands rub up his back under his shirt those grey eyes get an all too familiar glint in them. “Gavin…” He growls in warning.

Gavin just smiles and tugs him into another kiss, and Nines allows the distraction for now, parting his lips when a tongue prods at them. There’s a seed being planted somewhere in Gavin’s brain, he knows. However, given the subject matter, he’s not entirely sure that he’s going to be unhappy with the outcome.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came about from a discord where Evios said that they head cannoned that Nines doesn't laugh often, but when he does he goes into a fit of laughter that sounds like Arin and Dan's (The Game Grumps). Then cambionarewhereitsat said that they imagined the "updog" scenario, and I just couldn't help myself. 
> 
> Here's the "updog" video if you would like to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3eaGx5Z3Q4
> 
> Also go check out Cambionarewhereitsat on AO3, and Evios on tumblr!


End file.
